Nico Ali Walsh outpoints Jeremiah Sserwadda over six rounds in Dubai

DUBAI – Nico Ali Walsh came through sixth competitive rounds to defeat the game Jeremiah Sserwadda.

Ali Walsh, grandson of Muhammad Ali, improved to 12-2-1 (5 KOs) with a win that came via scorecards of 59-55 and 58-56 (twice).

Ali Walsh smiled after taking consecutive right hands in the first round and there were cheers from the vocal Sserwadda fans who sang and danced through the first round and must have been about 100 in number.

Walsh jabbed up and down to open the second but Sserwadda’s left was picking up points.

Walsh had told BoxingScene this week he was enjoying the tough start to his career and he was clearly in deep again and caught coming in by another Sserwadda right hand.

The Ugandan saluted his fans at the end of the round and they had plenty to cheer about.

Walsh, having his fourth bout of the year having fought in the Philippines, Guinea, and New York, had gone 1-1-1 in those three bouts.
Ali Walsh caught Sserwadda with some left hooks in the fourth and fifth and Sserwadda became more defensive and his output dropped. Ali Walsh landed arguably the punch of the fight up to that point, a right hand – from behind a jab – with Sserwadda’s back to the ropes near the end of the fifth.

But Sserwadda still had spots of success, including a short uppercut in the last, and Ali Walsh wheeled away to celebrate at the bell while Sserwadda held his arms out to acknowledge the crowd.

Sserwadda, a Ugandan based in Dubai, is now 12-5-1 (9 KOs).

Daud Alaev, fighting out of Dubai, 14-1 (8 KOs), showed promise to defeat well-supported Filipino Dave Penalosa, a 34-year-old southpaw, who falls to 20-2 (12 KOs).

Alaev had good moments in the first, landing straight rights and lefts to the body but Penalosa was busy, slotting in occasional uppercuts and hooks from his southpaw stance.

It was a good fight, fought at a fast tempo, but there was the feeling that Alaev had the heavier hands, as demonstrated early in the fifth when he forced Penalosa back with right hands. His straight right and right uppercut in particular looked like heavy shots and Alaev scored his first knockdown in the sixth following a four-punch combination that ended with another right hand.

Although Penalosa made it back to his feet, he was running out of steam, looking more cumbersome with his own attacks and shipping more right hands, twice spending too long on the ropes while allowing Alaev to rack up the points and Penalosa was then withdrawn by his corner before the seventh could begin.

It took Vadim Musaev three rounds to stop South Africa’s Tulani Mbenge at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai.

At the end of the second a big left buckled Mbenge and a second dropped him. 

The South African made it back to his feet and the bell to end the round sounded.

Both came out swinging in the third but Musaev had more success with his straight left hand and he fired off three in a row that left Mbenge flat on his back and the referee waved it off.

Musaev is 14-0 (9 KOs) and developing nicely. He now also holds the IBO’s belt at 147lbs. Mbenge drops to 22-3 (16 KOs) having been halted for the first time. Time of the stoppage was 1:54 of the third.

North Carolina heavyweight Stanley Wright’s defiance finally crumbled in the sixth round, when he was clubbed to the deck by a hefty right hook from Artem Suslenkov.

Wright, now 14-2 (11 KOs), had been brave but was outgunned.

Suslenkov – a 30-year-old from Russia – is now 14-0 (9 KOs).

Yoel FInol and Shakhobidin Zoirov battled through 10 hard rounds and, in the end, a 10th round knockdown cost the Uzbek dearly as he lost a split decision.

It was a fast-paced encounter and Venezuelan southpaw Finol looked good in patches, both defensively and offensively.

The bout was actually their fourth encounter in nine years, after two amateur bouts and an IBA contest earlier in the year, which was also here in Dubai.

It was a fun fight and, in the 10th, while under pressure Zoirov took a knee and that was expensive. In the end, Finol won by margins of 97-93 and 98-95 while Zoirov took the verdict on one card by 96-94.

Dubai-based Indian welterweight Faizan Anwar is now 21-0 (9 KOs) after a 10-round victory over Khuseyn Baysangurov, who drops to 25-2 (20 KOs). Both had their moments but it was Anwar’s hand that was raised.

Junior welterweight southpaw Khariton Argba, from Georgia but living in Russia, won a steady 12-rounder against Ruben Nestor Neri Munoz by scores of 117-111, 119-109 and 120-108.

These two had boxed in July with Argentine Munoz winning via second-round stoppage but this time they went the full 12 rounds and while both fighters and both teams celebrated at the final bell but Argba was a worthy winner.

There was also victory on the card for French junior welterweight Estelle Mossely against Ellen Simwaka. Mossely is now 12-0-1 (1 KOs) and Malawi’s Simwaka is now 13-8-2 (8 KOs).